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Thank You, What an Amazing Day!

Submitted by RossRNun

on Mon, 08/17/2015 - 02:55

I wasn't sure what to expect at dad's Celebration of Life, but today exceeded every expectation I could have had.

It started Saturday, when Coach Crowell, Adam Colombo, Craig Lawrence, Andy Faust, Mike Faust, and Rick Smith went to the gym to get out the center piece of the mat and place it in the middle of the gym. Adam told me about Friday's Booster Club Golf Outing and the people who were there and we also talked about his 2006-2007 Team State Championship medal he wanted dad to have and what we planned to do with it. Afterward, Coach, Adam, and I added some stanchions around the mat and made some tweaks to the lobby set-up. We also talked for quite a while and it was a conversation that I'm glad we all had.

After finishing setting up the gym on Sunday morning with pictures, memorabilia, testimonials, and "Rayisms" we returned at noon to meet with family. As we pulled up to the stop sign at the tennis courts, I noticed a fire/police vehicle parked at the intersection, and I have to admit, it choked me up that it was felt that was needed. My dad's brother and sister and their families along with my mom and in-law's families were all there.

The family was able to walk through and in the background the music of Trevor Gordon Hall's "Finding My Way" played.

By 12:30 people were beginning to arrive and we opened the doors early. About this time, a special surprise arrived in the form of a family portrait done by a Parkland HS senior, who had my brother in class. It was apparently arranged by his team and coordinated by Jon Trenge. Incredible.

We met both her and her mother and couldn't thank her enough for this gift.

With people arriving we moved to the lobby and spent the next five hours greeting people who waited up until two and a half hours to work their way through the line. Many people told us how it was like the best reunion they could imagine. Former teammates, friends, and strangers shared stories and talked and told us it was an amazing tribute to a great man.

While I enjoyed speaking to everyone in the lobby as his son, there was also a part of me that wanted to be mixed in the gym with everyone else as a wrestler of his after reading all the accounts on Facebook of how great it was being there today.

I still find it hard to believe how many people came out and as one person noted for every one here there are ten or more who wish they could be.

Comments

I am so sorry I did not get the chance to speak with the Nunamaker family yesterday. I waited in line almost 2 hrs, and absolutely expected the huge crowd that had congregated in the Nazareth HS Gym. If we did not have a family event planned for the same afternoon, I would have waited in line until I had the opportunity to tell them the same thing they had already heard from every other person standing in that line. Coach Nunamker was a wonderful, kind, gracious man with the strongest integrity. I was a cheerleader for the Nazareth Wrestling program for 4 yrs of my Jr & Sr High years...I had the pleasure of having him for gym class (where I learned how to wrestle,) health class, and so many interactions on so many levels. He was always the same, sweet teacher, in every situation. He will be missed by everyone who ever came in contact with him, that, I know for sure. He always remembered me and my name. :)